Giuseppe Penone

Giuseppe Penone is an outstanding artist who produces fantastic works of art that are absolutely out there. Penone's work is meant to help man connect better with nature. In the piece pictured below Penone took a tree and carved out the middle of it. Inside it sculpted a smaller tree. But this small tree on the inside actually shows what the tree would have looked like at a younger age. Penone is able to follow the growth rings and branches that are present inside of all trees. By doing this he is able to carve out an accurate representation of the tree in its early life.

While many artist create incredible things out of wood Penone is a class above the rest. The time and dedication it took to create this one piece alone is mind boggling. The piece is entitled The Hidden Life Within also shows the journey that a tree takes to reach its final form. Penone's other works also revolve around trees. In one installation he completely hollows out a tree and leaves only the outer bark. Penone's work is both inspiring and breathtaking, and it is safe to say that he has created a style that is all his own.

High Tech Opera

The video links for the MET opera were really interesting. The main feature of an Opera is generally the music, but for the three videos this was not the case. Instead the stage was the main feature of these operas. The stage consisted of 24 panels that were hydraulically controlled and the whole apparatus weighed 90,000 pounds. These hydraulically controlled panels are a great feat of technology and allow the director and producers of the play to absolutely transform the stage 

The panels are used in several ways in the videos, but from these examples it is easy to see that they have the potential to be used numerous other purposes. My favorite scene with the panels has to be The Ride of The Valkyries. In the scene the actors ride the panels like they are the mythological bird, this effect is achieved by having the panels move up and down very similarly to a bird's flight. Although the panels are large blocks the effect is not lost on the audience. Another interesting effect is created when the panels are combined with projections. When these two elements are combined they produce a beautifully abstract set or background for the actors to work with. These panels are an extremely interesting addition to the opera. They open the door for possibilities like a moving stage that flows with the characters or a destructible environment on stage. The applications of this technology are limitless and I look forward to seeing future uses of it.

Rome's Greatest Amphitheater

When I saw the link for the Roman Colosseum I had to click on it. I visited Rome before and got a chance to see the Colosseum in person and it was a breathtaking experience. The Roman Colosseum is one of the most iconic buildings in history and has been standing since A.D. 80. The Colosseum was a massive undertaking it took a decade to complete and materials were shipped from all around the world to complete. It featured state of the art amenities that no other Colosseum offered at the time. Marble covered seats, 80 arches on each level, a box for the emperor, and a 15 foot tall wall to enclose the arena floor. In addition to these amenities the Colosseum had retractable awning above the seating areas to shelter the crowd from sun and rain. There is also evidence of working drinking and latrines.

Pollice Verso - Jean Leon Gerome

Underneath the Colosseum floor was a labyrinth of rooms for fighters, supplies, and animals. The Colosseum was ahead of its time by years. Up until recently it was rumored that the Colosseum floor was flooded for naval battles. This was confirmed when archaeologists discovered evidence of aqueducts running into a mechanism that could theoretically flood the floors of the arena. They would later discover evidence of water lines around the arena walls. So much is still unknown about the technology the Colosseum contained. One things for sure the Romans were well ahead of their time and if the empire hadn't collapsed the world would be a very different place today.

Blade Runner

In class we watch the movie Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott. The movie starred Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer,and Sean Young. The movie came out in 1982 and used state of the art special effects at the time of its release. Looking back at the movie it is definitely not as impressive as today's CGI masterpieces like Transformers and Avatar. Nonetheless the movie is still compelling and has a complex plot that draws the viewer into the story.

The film is set in 2019, and in that year humans have developed the technology to make androids that are extremely realistic, in the film they are called replicants. The storyline is centered around a police officer named Rick Deckard. Deckard's job is to find and eliminate replicants who have strayed from their purposes. The city that the movie is set is a large sprawling metropolis complete with flying cars and your typical future sci fi setting. Unless we make some serious progress in the next four years I don't forsee any of our major cities looking like the one in the film. Aside from the inaccurate predictions about future cities the movie makes the viewer think about the value of human life. It also brings into to question what it means to be human. It made me wonder about what parameters make a human human, after all we are only a decade or two away from advanced artificial intelligence. Dont believe watch Watson the supercomputer built by IBM on Jeopardy. Overall I found the move to be  thought provoking and entertaining. What did you think?

Art Show #2

As I said in previous post several pieces at the art show caught my attention. The next piece that really stuck with me was also minimalist in nature. The part of the piece that really pulled me in was the message behind the piece. The artist was able to say so much but was able to do so with only eight words and two pieces of paper. The piece is by Samantha Burns and is titled Try. 

The cut and impressed words contrast each other in a really interesting way and speak on the concepts of trying to remember and trying to forget. The way the artist made the "I CAN NOT REMEMBER" portion of the piece; lends itself to notion that when you forget something is it cut out of your memory but still hanging on by a thread. Sort of the same way that a word can be on the tip of your tongue but you just can't remember it. The impressed letter that spell "I CAN NOT FORGET" do a great job of conveying the idea of an event being burned into your memory. In this case the words are pressed and the paper represents a person's memory. This was by far my favorite piece at the show and I feel that it deserves much more exposure. 

Art Show Intro

Art Shows are always a great experience and the gallery at UT provides an excellent forum for students to display their art. I really enjoyed the art show, the pieces varied greatly in terms of the medium used for each and all of the pieces were really wonderful. Several in particular caught my eye. The first was a 3-d printed penguin by Dylan Berry, the piece is titled Your Baby Penguin. The first thing that drew me to the piece was the colors, then I was more intrigued by the shapes and the geometric nature of the piece. It is very simplistic in nature but the viewer can instantly identify that it is a penguin. Only when I looked closer at the penguin did I realize it was 3-d printed, this part really got me interested. I had worked with 3-D printers but had never seen them being applied for artistic purposes. 

PBS Timeline

The PBS timeline on technology was really interesting it did an excellent job of showing the progression of technology overtime. It goes from 1750 to 1990 and covers all the major technological advancements that happened in that period. What really captured my interest was the small little blurbs that popped up when you click on the event. It was really interesting to see the explosions of innovation after the year 1800. Technological advancements took off at an unprecedented rate. In 60 years mankind went from the first airplane to landing a man on the moon. That's absolutely mind blowing, frozen food wasn't invented until 1920.

What drove this sudden explosion in innovation? How come we didn't see technological progress like this earlier in history? The timeline is a great a thought provoking tool and could be really used to generate excellent class discussion on the topic of technology and its influence on society.